"i can see the pines are dancing" - a.a. bondy, from the album when the devil's loose. this song is one of my favorite songs ever. just speaks to me that way. plus i love the title, and it makes me want to take a drive in the mountains.

"you saved my life" - cass mccombs from catacombs. i was going to quote the lyrics but you seriously need to listen to the song yourself. it's beautiful and amazing.

"i'm a pilot" - fanfarlo. my favorite song on my favorite album (reservoir)of the year. one of my favorite albums of all time. these people are amazing.

"oh no" - andrew bird. from noble beast. he's one of the best lyricists ever, and this song has some of the best lyrics he's ever come up with.

"i'm on my way" - yo la tengo. from popular songs. so mellow, so sweet.

"two weeks" - grizzly bear. from the album veckatimest. this song blows my mind with its amazing-ness. it's too good. the whole album is genius.

"now we can see" - the thermals. from the album now we can see. this song pumps you up. it's like a gritty powerful musical version of plato's allegory of the cave. at least that's what i get out of it! :)

"stillness is the move" - dirty projectors. from the album bitte orca. such weird goodness.

"my girls" - animal collective. from their absolutely stellar album merriweather post pavilion. i've never heard such sweet words set to such strange, cool, peppy electronic music. and i love it. seriously moving stuff. i don't know whether to cry or dance.

"boat behind" - kings of convenience. from declaration of dependence. put on this album, have yourself a dinner party. seriously.

to preview these songs and some of my other favorites of the year click here.

right now the house is quiet except for my "best of 2009" playlist, the husband took the kids sledding and snowmobiling. here's how he looked:

(handsome, right? i'd steal that hat from him if i thought it would look as good on me.)

anyway, the house is quiet and i'm thinking about all the goals and plans i have for this new year and whether i'll be able to accomplish any of them, let alone all of them. i tend to dream big and have small follow-through.

but right now i'm thinking i don't care about the past. i think things DO change on new year's day. i'm thinking i will accomplish my goals this year.

i'm thinking about how i've cleaned my whole house in preparation for the new year (like the chinese do for theirs) and tonight, how we're planning on incorporating another chinese tradition into our new year. the tradition is that at midnight you open all the doors and windows in your house to let out the old year. (i don't know if we'll open ALL of ours, brrrrr! but we're going to do it!)

when 2010 comes around i want 2009 out of here. it was a great year in a lot of ways but i'm so excited to start the new one. it's my clean slate, my world in white getting underway...

Thursday, December 10, 2009

just in case you hadn't heard, itunes is offering a free holiday music sampler (i think it's just available for a few days.) it's twenty songs, all different styles from weezer to david archuleta to sarah mclachlan to rascal flatts, and it's all free. just go to itunes to download.